Hello James

A follow-on to ‘on assassinations’ .. online with illustrations and live links at:

Ron West

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"The history of the great events of this world are scarcely more than a history of crime" -Voltaire

“This title is not currently available for purchase”

^ amazon screenshot

The CIA’s Amazon Books (or how to own a billionaire)

So, how is it a ‘kindle’ e-book detailing the history of a contemporary era CIA assassin is ‘out of print’ at amazon books? Can virtual reality actually have a paper supply problem? Or is it because Jeff Bezos’ amazon (Bezos is amazon’s largest stock-holder & CEO) has a $600,000,000 (six-hundred-million) contract supplying the CIA with ‘cloud’ services?

Small wonder Bezos’ Washington Post is recently the CIA’s preferred street-walker for planting fake news stories even as it had shrieked over ‘fake news.’ Now, going to the banned-at-amazon book:

‘How to Get Away with Murder in America: Drug Lords, Dirty Pols, Obsessed Cops, and the Quiet Man Who Became the CIA’s Master Killer’

“This is a story that the CIA will not want you to read. It will likely shake your faith in the highest levels of America’s national security establishment. And it will leave you feeling as if you are living not in the United States but in a seedy banana republic where there is no line between the good guys and the bad guys.

“In “How to Get Away with Murder in America,” the celebrated journalist Evan Wright reveals the extraordinary story of Enrique “Ricky” Prado, an alleged killer for a major Miami drug trafficker who was recruited into the CIA. Despite a grand jury subpoena and a mountain of evidence unearthed by a federal task force, Prado was promoted into the agency’s highest echelons and charged with implementing some of the country’s most sensitive post-9/11 counterterrorist operations, including the agency’s secret “targeted assassination unit.” All while staying in close touch with his cocaine-trafficking boss and, evidence suggests, taking part in additional killings for him.

“After Prado retired in 2004 at the rank of SIS-2—the CIA equivalent of a two-star general—he moved to a senior position at Blackwater, the private military contractor, where he continued to run the same, now-outsourced “death squad.” Contrary to government assurances that it was never actually activated, Wright reveals explosive testimony from one of the Blackwater assassins that Prado’s unit was indeed carrying out assigned killings. As a former military intelligence officer told Wright in 2011, “Private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA.”

“In “How to Get Away with Murder in America,” Wright discloses never-before-seen federal investigation files and lays out a mind-boggling and ultimately damning indictment of Ricky Prado and the intelligence community that embraced and empowered him. It is the deeply disturbing story of a criminal case abandoned because of CIA intervention, political maneuvering, and possibly corruption. Its cast includes Mafia capos, former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former CNN host Rick Sanchez, and Prado’s longtime boss at the CIA and then Blackwater, J. Cofer Black, who is now a “special adviser” to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Wright also delivers a stunning portrait of Prado’s childhood friend Albert San Pedro, a.k.a. “the Maniac,” the drug lord whom he served for years as loyal bodyguard and enforcer, as well as their longtime nemesis Mike Fisten, the detective who began pursuing them more than two decades ago and still hopes to put them both in prison for murder.

“There are many conspiracies in Wright’s story, all of them unsettling. Did the CIA knowingly hire a suspected murderer with strong ties to drug traffickers? Or was the agency a stooge, infiltrated by an underworld hood described by one investigator as “technically, a serial killer”?

“How to Get Away with Murder in America” is likely to have serious repercussions for the U.S. national security establishment. And it will shake to the core your conceptions of government and justice in America”

Sure it could have “serious repercussions” if it were available. The book was offered for sale at amazon in 2012. Bezos picked up the 600 million ‘private cloud services’ contract with the CIA in 2013:

“When the main shareholder in one of the very largest corporations in the world benefits from a massive contract with the CIA on the one hand, and that same billionaire owns the Washington Post on the other hand, there are serious problems”

No shit, Sherlock. And serious problems at amazon. After all, when the CIA comes calling, Bezos wouldn’t want things going wrong and a last sight of Enrique Prado’s silenced pistol presented in a follow-up visit:

“When best-selling author Evan Wright began digging into the hard-to-believe life story of Enrique “Ricky” Prado–a former Miami thug who became a top CIA official–he was told to stay away or risk getting “whacked.” One investigator warned, “You don’t want to f— with this guy.” Wright first learned about Prado while researching American Desperado, his shockingly good book about drug trafficker Jon Roberts. At first, he refused to believe that an alleged hitman and bodyguard for a mobster could become a CIA informant and eventually rise to the top echelons of the U.S. national security and intelligence systems. In this riveting account, Wright says the “two halves of Prado’s life…made no sense.” But through dozens of interviews and thousands of documents, Wright tries to make sense of them. The result is a story of two fiercely loyal Cuban-American childhood pals–Prado and his former cocaine-running boss, Albert “the Maniac” San Pedro–whose kinship lasted throughout Prado’s CIA career. Even as Prado rose to the CIA equivalent of a two-star general, he helped San Pedro with numerous deadly deeds. This is investigative journalism at its best—brave, meticulous, and significant” -Neal Thompson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Evan Wright is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards and the author of the bestselling “Generation Kill,” “Hella Nation,” and “American Desperado,” which he co-wrote with Jon Roberts. His reporting has also been included in “The Best American Crime Writing.” He co-wrote the HBO series “Generation Kill,” based on his book”

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^ for Mike Pompeo

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Related:

How Dumb is the CIA part one

How Dumb is the CIA part two

How Dumb is the CIA part three

How Dumb is the CIA part four